Those driving through Black Diamond will easily recognize the building operated as Black Diamond Automotive located at the intersection of Baker Street and Highway 169. Built in 1942, the structure has served the automotive needs of the area for nearly 80 years. This photo was taken shortly after the building opened and operated as a Shell gas station. But the story began decades earlier when trains serving Black Diamond slowly discontinued passenger service. Sensing opportunity Arvid Larson and Shorty Grove started the Diamond Stage Company in 1919, which provided bus service to Seattle several times a day.
In 1926, a 15-year-old boy named Carl Steiert started hanging around the garage watching mechanics work on buses. In 1931 he became a full time employee and auto mechanic. Steiert joined the business in 1948 when the stage lines were sold to Renton Stages and the name changed to Diamond Garage. In 1953, Carl became sole proprietor after buying out owners, Arvid Larson and Evan Thomas.
In 1974 following a 43 year association, Steiert retired and sold the building and business to Jim Kemmer and Bob Selland. They renamed it Black Diamond Automotive. Upon retirement, Carl and his wife Ann were instrumental in organizing the Black Diamond Historical Society. Kemmer bought out Selland in the late 1980s and took on Darwin Glaser as a business partner. The gas pumps were pulled in 1993 about the time the gasoline business became increasingly cut-throat and corporate. In August 2016 after 42 years in business, Kemmer retired and now leases the garage to Keith Hutchinson, who has worked there for 20 years. Hutchinson boasts that if Carl Steiert and Jim Kemmer can do it, he too will serve the automotive needs of Black Diamond for over 40 years. This photo from the late-1940s by Frank Guidetti comes courtesy of JoAnne Matsumura, an Issaquah historian.
